[Explanation] Recently, at 4:30 in the morning, the tarmac of Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport was still dark. The 52-year-old flight crew chief Li Wensheng and his apprentice Chen Xiaopeng began to do maintenance work for the plane that took off at 7:30 in the morning. It was the last aircraft they had to overhaul before the night shift.
From nine o'clock in the evening to nine o'clock in the morning, all night work has long been used to them.
This is the 31st year that Li Wensheng has become an "airplane doctor". He introduced to reporters that maintenance work is the first hurdle for flight safety. The work needs to be very meticulous and highly concentrated.
As small as screws, as large as the appearance of the fuselage, you must follow the work checklist one by one, and there are nearly a hundred items of large and small items.
Any scratches and pits found must be evaluated, and the inspection needs to be careful and careful.
[Concurrent period] Li Wensheng, line workshop leader of China Eastern Airlines Technology Gansu Branch
For example, for external inspections, we can range from screws to cover plates to the entire aircraft's wings, skins, fuselage, and engine blades. The main inspection is to check for leaks and external damage.
For example, there are missing parts, missing screws, check these, this is the external inspection.
Internal inspection is the technical condition of the aircraft itself. It is necessary to have a general understanding of it, and then communicate with the crew. The faults reported to us by the crew will be eliminated tonight.
[Explanation] The maintenance personnel are called "aircraft doctors". Compared with the regular inspection maintenance maintenance personnel working in the hangar, the maintenance maintenance personnel working on the tarmac are called "airline maintenance maintenance" and are responsible for more on-site "surgical" inspections, exposure and Severe cold is commonplace.
At 5:30 in the morning, the temperature on the apron was still shivering.
There was the roar of the engine in his ears. The apprentice Chen Xiaopeng compared the worksheet in his hand and signed every item after checking to ensure that every plane that rushed to the sky was healthy.
Every day, maintenance personnel need to conduct routine inspections or maintenance on more than 20 short-stop aircraft and more than 10 overnight aircraft. The inspection time for each aircraft is different, ranging from 40 minutes to 2 hours.
[Concurrent period] Li Wensheng, line workshop leader of China Eastern Airlines Technology Gansu Branch
The first hurdle for safe take-off and landing is the routine work of maintenance.
An aircraft needs 2 to 3 people, including maintenance personnel, release personnel, and inspection personnel.
If it's like a very cold situation, at (minus) 20 degrees, your hand can only be stretched out for a while, 5 minutes and 10 minutes I have to replace, I have to run into the house to warm up for a while before coming out.
[Explanation] At seven o'clock in the morning, when the overhaul work was over, the sun just rose from the horizon.
Li Wensheng smiled and said that after 30 years of work, he has seen every moment on the tarmac from sunrise to sunset.
It was really beautiful to see the flight taking off and landing safely on the horizon, and it was full of accomplishment.
Reporter Gao Ying reports from Lanzhou, Gansu
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]